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Ansgar
Ansgar was the name given to a series of German robots which competed in German Robot Wars and various competitions in the original UK Robot Wars. The original Ansgar intended to enter a German series of Robot Wars which ultimately never took place, but it instead won the German Melee held during Robot Wars Extreme, leading German roboteers to address Ansgar as the German champion. Ansgar's Revenge entered the televised German series, but fell in the first round, while Ansgar 3 represented Germany in The Third World Championship. Versions of Ansgar Ansgar The original Ansgar was created by Sascha Thomsen and his father Joachim after seeing a dubbed promotional episode of Robot Wars. Constructed from aluminium road signs, the result was a vaguely dome shaped robot designed to look like a UFO with interchangeable flipper, spear and lever weapons that could be fired 300 times per minute. The robot was driven by a 12V battery. Ansgar also had the ability to "sit down" so it could not be pushed around by other robots, but it was very light at only 74 kilograms, as the team were working towards an 80kg weight limit. Ansgar's Revenge The team's second design was Ansgar's Revenge, a shufflebot which ran on a 16 leg mechanism powered by four 750W electric motors, and 4 Gel 27 batteries. This provided Ansgar's Revenge with a top speed of 25km/h, and could rotate 360 degrees in approximately one second. The robot itself featured a lifting weapon incorporating a shovel and twin spears, which could lift at an angle of 180 degrees to attack from the front and rear, and could lift 200kg. Despite shufflebots no longer qualifying for increased weight allowances under the Series 6 rules, Ansgar's Revenge was not affected by the rule change, weighing 196kg by the time of its appearances in the concurrently-filmed German Series and UK vs Germany Special.Run Amok website - Series 6 rules and regulations Ansgar 3 The final incarnation, Ansgar 3, was Team Thomsen's second shufflebot, which again weighed 200kg in spite of the aforementioned regulation changes. The robot was powered by a 12hp electric motor, and armed with a 10kg undercutting bar spinner. The spinner featured two large spiked blades on either end, giving it a passing resemblance to the 'spinning axe' weapon of UK Series competitor Fluffy. Although Ansgar 3 proved to be one of the fastest shufflebots in Robot Wars, had a powerful spinner and boasted strong armour, its design left it incapable of self-righting. Etymology "Ansgar" is the German equivalent of the English name Oscar. In Germanic, its literal meaning is "god-spear." Qualification The original Ansgar was built to enter a series of Robot Wars, which would air exclusively in Germany. Over a three-month build process, Ansgar was completed, but unfortunately for Team Thomsen, the German series had only received four applications, including their own. The season of German Robot Wars was cancelled as a result, although Ansgar and the other applicants were still invited to take part in the filming of Robot Wars Extreme, in a dedicated German Melee. The team then built Ansgar's Revenge as a follow-up to their original design, and applied for RTL's second attempt at filming a German series of Robot Wars on RTL II. All German entrants for this series were required to attend a technical inspection run by Derek Foxwell in Berlin, which Ansgar's Revenge was present for. Unlike the previous year, the season of German Robot Wars took place, and Ansgar's Revenge automatically qualified due to the series receiving less than twelve German entries. It is unknown whether Ansgar 3 attempted to enter the main competition of Robot Wars: The Seventh Wars, but regardless the robot made an appearance in the Third World Championship, representing Germany. Robot History Extreme Series 1 Team Thomsen's first UK appearance was in the German Melee against Golem, Nasty Warrior and Flensburger Power with the first incarnation of Ansgar. This battle was also broadcast a year later on German Robot Wars. Ansgar was equipped with its flipper weapon in this match, but couldn't get into position to flip any robots, so it spent most of the match swatting the air with its flipper. However, Golem broke down, Flensburger Power made little impact, and Nasty Warrior began smoking, allowing Ansgar to win by judges' decision. As this battle took the place of the planned German series, the German roboteers in attendance helded Ansgar as the first German champion of Robot Wars. For winning the German Melee, Ansgar represented Germany in the Second World Championship. This competition was also broadcast during Extreme Warriors: Season 1 and Ansgar's opening battle was broadcast during German Robot Wars. Ansgar was equipped with its stabbing spike for this match against the UK champion Chaos 2, US competitor Manta and Mastiff of Italy, but it proved no help, as in the battle, Ansgar was immediately targeted by Manta, who was too low for the spike to hit. Manta pushed Ansgar around while using its blade to tear up the German entry. Ansgar stopped moving when it was pushed onto the flame pit, and was counted out, eliminating it from the competition. German Series The Ansgar team went on to compete in the televised German series of Robot Wars, filmed and broadcast after their first UK appearance. Seen as somewhat of a "reigning champion" by its opponents, Ansgar's Revenge fought Golem and Junkyard Queen. Ansgar's Revenge didn't show much controlled movement in its melee. It initially rammed into Junkyard Queen, and lifted itself from the arena floor, but otherwise colliding with the arena wall on several occasions, once even lifting itself onto the wall and only rarely coming into contact with an opponent, as Ansgar's Revenge was generally struggling to move. Golem rammed into Ansgar's Revenge towards the end of the battle while Refbot scanned it for any signs of life, but it did survive to a Judges' decision. However, the battle was mostly between Golem and Junkyard Queen, and for this reason the judges chose to eliminate Ansgar's Revenge. Ansgar's Revenge also competed in the Germany v England special, also broadcast during Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars. It was drawn against a fellow German representative Das Gepäck, in actuality a Dutch Competitor brought in to make up for the lack of German robots. It was immediately rammed by Das Gepäck, before taking the full force of another attack from behind this time and was slammed into Dead Metal. The House Robot repeatedly cut into the lifter, as Ansgar's Revenge started taking multiple powerful rams from its opponent in the process. Sir Killalot then plucked it up by the lifter, paraded it around the arena and eventually dropped it in the centre of the war zone. Das Gepäck slammed into it again, pushing it into an angle grinder, then pounded it repeatedly into the side wall. It hobbled away, barely able to move. Sir Killalot pushed it away, sapping its last little drop of strength away. The battle went to a judges' decision, but the winner was clearly Das Gepäck. UK Series 7 The third robot in the Ansgar line of robots, Ansgar 3, made its first appearance in the German World Championship qualifier against I Bot One Beta and Reaper NP2 in hopes of representing its country in a World Championship for a second time. Ansgar 3 came under immediate pressure from Reaper NP2 which drove at it, but a connection from Ansgar 3's spinning weapon saw Reaper NP2 go on the back-foot, as it darted away from Ansgar 3 and drove over the flame pit. Reaper NP2 continued to make its way around the arena before Ansgar 3 came across and made contact with another attack, this time, one that completely immobilised Reaper NP2. Afterwards, Ansgar 3 turned its attention to I Bot One Beta and crashed into the front of it before deciding to head towards the pit release button, which it activated. Ansgar 3 then came in with another attack on Reaper NP2, which was being counted out by Refbot, before it immobilised I Bot One Beta with its next attack. With I Bot One Beta defenceless, Ansgar 3 bowled it towards the pit of oblivion before nudging it down. Reaper NP2 joined I Bot One Beta in the pit from a Shunt push, and Ansgar 3 had successfully qualified for The Third World Championship. In the first round of the Third World Championship, Ansgar 3 faced two powerful British opponents, as it was drawn up against Seventh Wars Grand Finalists Storm 2 and Tornado. Tornado came in with an immediate drive on Ansgar 3, stopping Ansgar 3's weapon instantly - this triggered Ansgar 3 into making its way to the pit release and activating it. Storm 2 then rammed Ansgar 3 into a CPZ and against the arena wall, where it eventually edged its way out of trouble as Growler put it under pressure. Tornado and Storm 2 then planted Ansgar 3 on the flame pit, where its mobility ceased. Ansgar 3 was then nudged out towards the centre of the arena, where Storm 2 - with a helping hand of Tornado pushing behind it - forced Ansgar 3 down into the pit. This brought an end to Ansgar 3's participation in the tournament, with Tornado joining it in crashing out of the competition as Storm 2 progressed via a judges' decision. Results |} |} |} Wins/Losses *UK Wins: 2 *UK Losses: 2 *German Wins: 0 *German Losses: 2 *''NOTE 1: Although Ansgar's fights in Extreme 1 were also rebroadcast during the German series, they are only listed under the UK Wins/Losses'' *''NOTE 2: Although Ansgar's Revenge vs Das Gepäck was aired during UK Series 6, it is only listed as a German loss.'' Series Record German Series Ansgar team.JPG|Ansgar with its team Ansgar ext1 pits.JPG|Ansgar in the pits during Extreme 1 Ansgarrevenge officialimage.png|Official photo of Ansgar's Revenge Team Ansgar.jpg|Team Thomsen in Series 6 Ansgar 3.jpg|Ansgar 3 in the Third World Championship Ansgar 3 insides.jpg|The internals of Ansgar 3 UK Series Outside Robot Wars After its appearance on Robot Wars, Ansgar 3 was converted to run on wheels, and was repainted black. It competed at the first cross-channel Roaming Robots event, albeit with static spikes in place of its spinning bar. Trivia *Ansgar's team, as well as the Golem team, have consistently referred to Ansgar as the first German champion in Robot Wars for its victory in the German melee, although it is unknown if this claim was recognised by the show. **If Ansgar were to be considered the first German Champion, then Ansgar's Revenge falling in the first round of the German series would give it the dubious honour of having the least successful title defence of any defending champion. *Ansgar's Revenge was one of three shufflebots to appear in domestic Robot Wars competitions, the others being Drillzilla and Scarab. *Ansgar 3 was the last walking robot of any kind to fight in a televised Robot Wars battle, having competed in the Third World Championship, which was aired after the Series 7 Featherweight Championship. External Links *Ansgar website (archived, German language) References Category:German Series competitors Category:World Championship competitors Category:German Robots Category:Single Battle Event Winners Category:International event only competitors in the UK Series Category:International event only competitors in the US Series Category:German Representatives Category:Shufflebots Category:Robots with Retracting Spears Category:Robots with Lifters Category:Robots with more Losses than Wins Category:Robots with Interchangeable Weapons Category:Robots with Bar Spinners Category:Robots with Rear-hinged Flippers Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Robots whose events were cancelled